How to score the big game
3January 31, 2015 by smallarmyjeff
Today is not just a big day for football – it is a big day for advertising. Tonight, brands take a large chunk of their media and production budgets to reach one of the largest and most attentive audiences of the year. They also benefit from the pre and post game advertising analysis, where industry pundits and fans alike talk about the brand winners and losers of the game.
So, as you sit back with your chili, beer, nachos, ribs and other healthy game-time snacks, here is a quick, easy (and highly scientific) way to keep score of the game behind the game. Just use this questionnaire/rating system, tally your scores, and the winners and losers will be declared. (Select only one response per question.)
1. Which of the following best describes the ad?
[ ] Touched your heart: 5 points
[ ] Made you laugh: 3 points
[ ] Emotionless: 1 point
[ ] Made you sick (offensive, disgusting, etc.): -1 point
2. How did the ad change your perception of the brand?
[ ] Like them more: 5 points
[ ] First time I’ve ever heard of them: 3 points
[ ] No change: 1 point
[ ] Like them less: -1 point
3. How much time did the brand spend talking about themselves?
[ ] Not much of the time (the brand shared a story): 5 points
[ ] Some of the time (the brand was part of the story): 3 points
[ ] Most of the time (the brand had the lead role): 1 point
[ ] All of the time (it was a brand autobiography): -1 point
4. After seeing the ad, you are most likely to:
[ ] Run out and buy it: 5 points
[ ] Talk positively about it (social media, in person, etc.): 3 points
[ ] Never speak of it again: 1 point
[ ] Talk negatively about it (social media, in person, etc.): -1 point
5. How were you feeling when watching the ad?
[ ] Excited (your team was winning): 3 points
[ ] Stressed (the game was close): 2 points
[ ] Depressed (your team was losing): 1 point
[ ] Drunk (you weren’t paying much attention): 0 points
I hope this makes the game a bit more interesting. Please share your results (winners, losers and total scores) here – and let’s see what happens. You can also share your scores on Twitter and Facebook with #sbadscore.
Enjoy the game. Go Pats!
From the Trenches 
okay so first I was SOOO happy to have a rubric to base my commercial voting on – however I had to throw out question #5 b/c although funny it would invalidate my scores.
And… my top four scores were for (in order of appearance) #1 Today Show flashback re: internet and new technology in the BMW i3 #2 lost puppy saved from wolf by Budweiser horse #3 Dodge Challenger Next 100 years #4 Jeep This Land is Our Land
One more thing is that Q#1 should have the top points for if it both touched your heart and made you laugh – in which case my #1score would have gone to Dodge’s Next 100 years.
Oh and I think your questions would be great for students in marketing programs.
Last thing, really, as far as marketing goes question #4 is the most important and very few scored 5 points for me.
Thanks for putting this out – btw I got this from my sister-in-law Greta
Thanks Becky. Glad you liked this. Good feedback. I agree that Q#5 could throw off the scoring a bit. It was intended as a joke – however, we do generally think better of things when we are in a good mood. For Q4, it is rare that any ad would make you want to run out and buy something – but kudos to any brand that can score high on all the other Qs AND cause you to run out and buy. I believe that advertising (especially SuperBowl TV advertising) is primarily about brands building relationships with people – so the more realistic goal for these ads is to cause people to simply like the brand a bit more.
5,5,5,3,3 . . . I used the always girls campaign commercial against these questions . . . loved it. Kathryn